The US Navy has confirmed plans to retire the special mission versions of the Lockheed P-3 by 2020, and replace them with an all-unmanned fleet.
In written responses to the Senate Armed Services Committee late last month, incoming chief of naval operations Admiral Jonathan Greenert said the navy’s ageing EP-3 Aries and special projects aircraft will be retired in 2019 and 2020. They will be replaced by an $8 billion investment over the next five years in a family of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms, Greenert said.
Those investments include $1.1 billion in the Northrop Grumman MQ-8B Fire Scout, $3.9 billion in the Northrop RQ-4N broad area maritime surveillance aircraft, $2.5 billion in the unmanned carrier-launched airborne surveillance and strike programme and $1.1 billion in the medium-range maritime unmanned aircraft system.
Those plans leave no room for extending the service of the EP-3 through outer-wing panel replacements, as Lockheed officials had previously expressed interest in performing. They also end discussion of a manned EP-X programme, which was cancelled by the navy last year.
Some industry officials had speculated that the service could be interested in a turboprop-powered replacement, similar to the US Air Force’s MC-12 Project Liberty, or the US Army’s enhanced medium-range airborne surveillance system.
Instead, the Navy believes its intelligence-collecting capabilities will be improved by transitioning to a larger fleet of long-endurance, unmanned aircraft, Greenert said. Such systems are also more “tailorable and scalable” to changing needs, he added.
The USN currently operates 16 EP-3 Aries surveillance aircraft, plus an uncertain number of special projects aircraft based on the same platform
Source: Flight Global